the way to Decorate,

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"Keith's spirit is reflected in so much of the house."
"It is truly personal, from the acres of books to the Southern art to Jon's collections of political memorabilia." -designer Courtney Coleman on Keith and Jon Meacham's Nashville home

the Meacham girls & their dog in their Belle Meade home's Entry Hall

 (the circa-1820 settee is upholstered in horsehair, the pendant light is by the Urban Electric Co., and the wallpaper is by Adelphi Paper Hangings.)

 the bold paper is a document called Philadelphia Harlequin in an exuberant custom color

read the full story by Julia Reed at Elle Decor here

 Photograph By William Waldron

(links for this story are in bold text)

what did you FIND this week?

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Luckily there was no snow-though it is on the ground, once again- to thwart my rendezvous with Elle Decor. All that was needed is a good internet connection to share my weekly finds with them from around the internet this week. Along with several other bloggers- I've shared my latest adventure down the fathomless net's rabbit hole! One hint- it involves Christian Lacriox.  I think this is one of the many adventures we will find Lacriox on and see the influence of this latest project in fashion and interior design for months to come.

what else will you find at elledecor.com? features about what their editors are reading and a sun filled cover from the original Bunny Williams- a departure in style for her? I don't really think so- her commitment to make interiors inviting, fresh and livable are fully realized in this her latest creation. The new MARCH issue is chock full-

If you have already explored  elledecor.com, don't wait.
along with their weekly  FINDS- their is a DESIGN DIRECTORY-where I have added my own  design work.

Don't just take my word for it! Check out the editor's video on youtube and get a glimpse of what you'll see in the MARCH issue.

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black

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early the Ice, coated all round

early the Ice, kept me a' ground*

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair."

* I missed my day trip due to a coating of black ice this morning.
photograph of Sarah Bernhardt, with whom I share a birthday. here- in Macbeth
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honeysuckle & GOLDEN

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This is my pick for best dressed at the Golden Globes yesterday, does anyone really care who wins? It is all about what they wore. Not necessarily so-but I seldom go sit in a theatre any more- rather I wait for netflix to fill the movie ticket. Julianne Moore always pulls something spectacular off-this time it is a one shoulder Honeysuckle Lanvin gown. It is a glorious color to wear-a bit harder to decorate with. Honeysuckle 18--2120 is Pantone's color of the year and has already been much talked about.

Getty image

HONEYSUCKLE

Pantone's Color of the year

but in this room by Mica Ertegun, Honeysuckle is done at its best.

 (though any photographed room can appear a certain color-

if the first image is correct it is more honeysuckle than coral-but so hard to tell.)

Classics
never going wrong in Black- or the other strong neutral Grey.

 Piper Perabo wearing Oscar de la Renta and

 getty images

The Modern Classicist- Billy Baldwin

or flat out- 

CHIC.

Tilda Swinton in Jill Sander &  a single Baldwin slipper chair.

Swinton photo- Getty

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redesigning design

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Is the internet "redesigning design?"

Landscape from a Dream

Paul Nash 1936-38

I am so happy to be joining Elle Decor.com's Allison Mezzafonte for a panel discussion on the internet's influence on Design- Is the Internet Redesigning Design?  Each of the panelists offers a very different blog for any reader's pleasure. Of course my career as a designer is featured within this blog-but I blog for inspiration- what am I tuned into today?
The intersections of art, design, fashion, history. The use of language and the struggle  to say what I am thinking- to offer opinions. For me, expressing opinion is of the utmost importance. For me- what else is the point, but that one is for another day.

The panel is in Miami at DCOTA-the Design Center of the Americas on this Tuesday the 18th. It will be a whirlwind day- heading off Tuesday morning and arriving just in time to take a seat on the 2:00 panel and head back home right afterwards. I can not wait to meet the other participants and return with all the conversation,

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the audacity of naught

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or

the state of things

 warhol's silver factory from here.

With NEW blogs springing up every day- Beautiful images & words are springing up with them. I try to credit everything I put on this blog. I know sometimes I fail. Many of the images I feature are scanned by me from an extensive library- I only scanned them. They are not mine to claim. I am always surprised, amused, dismayed when I see bloggers paste watermark images over images they have scanned, or even more surprising- claim ownership of images from magazines, the content of magazines barely having even reached subscribers- by adding footnotes to their blogs like:

All content, photos, images and text are the property of ..unless credited. Nothing shall be copied, altered, or reused in any way without....  (Many times these images are not credited)

I have the following added at the lower portion of my own blog:

LITTLE AUGURY2008-2011

ALL PERSONAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND ORIGINAL TEXT NOT TO BE COPIED OR REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF OWNER

It is really all I can hope for. I appreciate another blogger noting an image was found on my blog when they use it on their own. It isn't something I expect.  I can not worry over an image I have scanned- when one does that it is part of the catalog of internet images- Simple fact. Better to credit the artist-painter or photographer than to credit a blog-I think. Photographers are in the cross hairs of this boon. The art they render is becoming no more than a paper airplane. We as bloggers should all be more conscientious about this, at least make the effort to note the artist whose work you are literally pasting in as your content.

Some bloggers claim property over the Comments readers leave. I do not. I leave comments often. I enjoy reading posts and I love leaving comments, getting comments and responding to my readers. I occasionally share comments on a subsequent post I may write with permission of the reader. For a number of months I used, with permission, a comment from a supportive blogger in my blog profile with the reader's sobriquet. In recent changes to my profile- rather than crediting the quote directly - I described and thanked them which I hoped would be appropriate.  This wasn't enough and the commenter asked to have those words removed. I completely understand & I did so. I never want anyone to fear leaving a comment, worrying that I will snatch their ideas and words as my own.
There is a fine line here- I hope in interacting with readers and other bloggers-inspiration will follow- that interaction is why I participate.

I look forward to getting my latest subscriptions to more magazines that I like to admit. I use them for inspiration, I occasionally post  their content-when I can create something to the topic. 

How am I inspired? How does it relate to what interests me- the connectors of design, history and art? 

I do make it a rule to never post about a magazine's current content until their next issue is published. I always get crazy  when I see the beautiful photography and content of a new & current issue tossed out on a blog before I even get a copy of the magazine. I wonder if images are scanned, grabbed off  magazine sites or offered up by publishers? I can not fathom a magazine's reasoning if that is the case. Yes- bloggers do promote magazines -alliances are formed. I know advertisers drive magazines and keep them going-but as a paying subscriber, I am infuriated by the practice. It has a great deal to do with bloggers' rush to be the "first" to get something out and numbers-Statistics. Those little statcounters floating about many blogs mean- they are counting You. You are there and therefore You are a statistic-registering your support of and readership of the blog. I have one on my blog, after a year of posting pages on Little Augury, I added the counter. I rarely air these numbers, they are for my own use and they are your  numbers as well. Many bloggers are using them for the purposes of luring advertisers and sponsors to their blogs and publishing their numbers to do so.

Where the story of blogs goes is up to the blog community, the readers and the publications we all flock to for inspiration. As more bloggers enter the field in order to share, reflect and prosper- Less and Less is certain.

I am looking forward to heading to DCOTA the Design Center of the Americas to participate with fellow bloggers in discussing  'Redesigning Design'  moderated by Allison Mezzafonte from Elledecor.com. If  you are close by or will be attending the DCOTA Winter Market 2011 on January the 18th- join us a 2:00- we will discuss how the World of the Internet has changed the World of Design. 

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barefoot, and pregnant?

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the next barefoot cover I want to see is something like this- with maybe- a remake of the movie? could you imagine an actress today that could touch the incomparable AVA GARDNER?

NO?

No.


NO?

No.
(but this is about what I might expect from Hollywood-Demi that is)



NO?

 that's a NoNo.



NO?

 ( actually a thought-IF it came to that )



NO?

NO. NO. a thousand times NO.



NO?

honest, I don't even kNOw who this is.



NO?

NO, all I can say is NO- not even as a Count.

NO, no more barefoot anything  please.

Unless, it's this, & make that the Original.

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reprise Irving & Fine: I SPY

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on Elle Decor's facebook site-(Yes they are diving in to All the social networking sites and have an irresistible revamped website- )

I Spy- a Favorite On a Favorite:

CHARLOTTE MOSS in IRVING & FINE'S KUTCH COAT

Charlotte Moss with fellow blogger Heather Clawson, Habitually Chic

at Elle Decor's A List Party at McGuire

Photograph by Patrick Butler

 It's really something-
fabulous.



my post on the Irving and Fine Kutch coat here
ELLE Decor on Facebook here
Charlotte Moss tete a tete blog here
ELLE Decor's Design Registry here
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inspired by Anni Albers, et alia

The Adage,

Nothing new under the Sun...

History repeating itself'..

Make that,

Design repeating itself.

Always there is

Inspiration is everywhere this week~

Seeking it everyday, from Courtney at Stylecourt,
Miuccia at style.com,
Mitchell Owens, on Anni Albers in elle decor &
Maggie at musing over mosaic
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a pair of rare venetian millefiori,1900 at Picard

Prada

Anni Albers Study for a nylon rug Graphik-international

Nigerian beaded arm chairs Specific

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seeking the Sforzas

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The Sforzas ruled the Duchy of Milan during the Renaissance years from 1450 to 1535. They wielded their power through intrigues, military machinations, advantageous marriage alliances and brute force. The Sforzas strengthened their power in an arranged marriage to the vainglorious Borgia family (Giovanni Sforza to Lucrezia Borgia, the marriage was late annulled). Renaissance man,Leonardo da Vinci served Ludovico Sforza and painted family members, mistresses all. The Sforzas-rock stars of the Renaissance.

The infamous Sforzas are intriguing indeed, however the Sforza I seek is an entirely different one, though the two are connected. The opulent Renaissance portraits of the Sforza family are abundant-all in splendorous raiment.

Frammento di velluto/ Historisches Museum Berna

Well-now we are getting somewhere-

 Ludovico Sforza, ‘il Moro’ (the dark). Here is a man obsessed with wearing a startling variety of imprese (heraldic emblems) all at once, until his dream came true and he became Duke of Milan in 1494, when he suddenly took to more sober dress. He’d made it! (from HALI.COM)

The Milanese weavers and spinners had been imported by the first Duke from other areas- cutting the cost of the elaborate textiles. It didn't hurt that the Duke offered tax exemptions and big benefits to the artisans. An exhibition this winter Silk Gold Kermes Secrets and Technology at the Visconti and Sforza Courts in Milan highlights the Sforza's love of alto basso velvets and golden boucle with textiles and portraits side by side.

Though the Sforza beauty is subjective. Their wardrobe is not. The heavenly textiles were not just fashion of the day, but critical in the Sforza image they projected. The opulence in the textiles is evidenced in the large embossed patterns of silk and velvet. Complex layers of pattern, encrusted jewels bordering edges or belting narrow waistlines- all elevated the house of Sforza- Image was everything-the opulent velvets helped.

The Sforza I seek is a fabric, (of course)

Clarence House makes the divine VELLUTO SFORZA, in green, blue, red, beige and black. It should be familiar to textile addicts. It seems to pop up in all the finest rooms showcased in all the finest magazines. But wait- Pierre Frey houses SFORZA as well. The French fabric dynasty prefers "Velours" and prefers the French colour palette as well- verde, blu, carmine, viscone, nero. The fabrics- made in Italy- are identical with no distinction-except for the language. The content of both- cotton and bemberg.

it's SFORZA for Aerin Lauder-

photograph by Fernando Bengoechea (HB)

Both Elle Decor and British Vogue feature Christine D'Ornano's London home in their April issues
SFORZA -without its identity revealed. Could it be a Sforza relative?

 Jacques Grange & Sforza.

 image by Pierre Passebon 

from the Jacques Grange Interiors book

 ahhhh My own Sforza by Clarence House in black.

So-in looking at SFORZA for a project my only hesitation is the colourway selection. The Green/Verde may work-but I would prefer something with a bit of zest.
ENTER- Lee Jofa's SUNFLOWER (no that is not SFORZA in Italian-alas-it sounds less-Italian), but nonetheless it does have zest! Sunflower- made in India- is still priced like Sforza (over the moon), looks like it for the most part. Where it differs- and there in lies the RUB-& I say most appropriate to Velvets- is the content. Logically the silk and cotton with a hint of viscose make it more luxe perhaps, and it even has a soupcon of metallic at 2%. Silk is typically the preferred content-adding more sheen. Velvets always lure me-and then they present their problems. In this case the original with its cotton and bemberg has a lower lustre- The SUNFLOWER's silk content along with the metallic is adding shine. Surely the Sforza family was covered in silk? Am I comparing the Sforza to the NEW Sforza cousin unjustly ? Do I object to the addition of Metallic-adding a spot of opulence? (no, not if played down in its use with other fabrics)

Why then, can't I embrace Sunflower-distant kin to SFORZA?

Allegory of the Sforza

Family's Coat of Arms. 

Biblioteca Estense, Modena Italy

Lee Jofa's SUNFLOWER

in three of it's six colours

CASSIS, CIDER, TOBACCO

(all textile fragment images are from the exhibition noted in the text)
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tales from the crypt or always read the comments & Edit, edit, edit A REPRISE

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Do you read the comments? Let me just say-to get the full story-FYI-you are missing the best part(s)
Sometimes the comments exude- sometimes they get snarky-sometimes they get dark.

Whatever-they are essential reading, especially when the Anon(s) come calling. If you blog do you allow Anon. to comment? I do- however more and more I am getting comments with links to viagra, computers, increase you blog traffic,  or cloaked in -'great post-they get better and better-I have been researching_______.'  I must say I do enjoy the gushing ones-they are not many (at all) mostly the snarky Anon. can make things interesting. I have only chosen to Not publish 1 from Anon. dear Anon. and you know why- HERE.

and another thing. if you blog do you arrange to have "set" comments responding to the Comments your readers leave? Something sincere, generic? Still-I am relatively new to it all and have mostly come along by the seat of my pants or skirts-but that's another post. No glorious introductions, No behind the scenes- 'dear, let me just tell you This before you That. just Trust Me.

where is this leading- HERE- & then right Here on this very page (in the spirit, Well- just in the Spirit) Edit, edit, edit A REPRISE and the COMMENT that prompted my response below-

from ANON -on a post about Quilts(here)

I have a beautiful quilt in dark broody colours, but that's not why I'm here! Where has Edit, Edit, Edit gone? LA, why did you 'conceal' it? Please tell.
Anon.

dearest Anon-& why do you conceal your identity? prerogative? I do wish you had visited it earlier. I removed the post because I had 2 old hands at blogging comment that they thought the gratuitous insipid comments I had received from Eddie Ross were Automatic ones and not true responses to my humble opinion about editing the room. I did think if this WAS the case-my own reaction was unwarranted though my opinions still stands. I am nothing if not fair- If the comments could have been read in the full context of the post- I would have left it up. But since-I found the explanation very plausible it seemed I was reacting to a phantom reply- that was unfair.I live and learn and I do know when to edit. You? If you would like a full copy of the post-send an email and I will copy you on it. pgt

oh, and anon- The moody brooding quilt sounds,Well dark.

& NOW THE post that prompted Dark and Brooding- EDIT edit edit (a reprise) dedicated to ANON(from here always and forever known as Dark and Brooding, do sign that way in future so I'll know you care)

What an exciting week in New York-alas, here I am in NC-not a bad place to be
-subsequent to the thinking of Powers that be.

Along the sidewalks of BLOOMINGDALE'S windows Gawkers gawk into living rooms
Three to be exact- the windows at BLOOMIES are blooming with rooms


 the design blogs are buzzing about a

"BIG WINDOW CHALLENGE, Featuring Apartment Therapy and ELLE DECOR- Three designers go head to head in the windows at Bloomingdale's flagship in NYC. May the most Beautiful Room Win!"

REPRESENTING Apartment Therapy is Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan founder of the site APARTMENT THERAPY-
Bloomingdale's represented by Eileen Joyce-
and the magazine ELLE DECOR- represented by Eddie Ross.


I've never met Eddie
Everyone says he's quite swell.
Today he popped in to see where I dwell

He must be quite neat with sour and sweet

He came by to comment-on a post MARC in Skirts-
But really He wanted to take a quick look-

His visit was prompted by something
I said:
A comment I left-
a thought that I had-

"Edit,edit,edit. Less would have been more in this case. All three rooms leave a lot to be desired"

to which he replied

Thanks for your sweet comment over at My Notting Hill!
xo
Eddie 

I wonder how Eddie could have missed my point-
It wasn't a sweet comment-
But my honest opinion.


I applaud the hard work of all the designers- they have done an inordinate amount of work.
Voters are voting-
Bloggers are cheering- Mostly for Eddie, and I guess that is good.

Best of Luck to you Eddie-
Come back when you will
& Next time consider
Edit, edit, edit.
xo.

& NOW THE COMMENT ON THIS EDIT POST that made me edit-,the NAME has been edited to protect the-

omg. ok - little AI think this is what happens when you have someone just reading all their google alerts and responding automatically with a "thank you for your comment!" comment. worthless.the whole thank yous! is such an issue. Eddie and Jaithen are too busy to be thanking anyone - that is exactly why he doesn't get what you said. all they know is you   wrote about them, but they didn't take to read what you wrote. better to have not thanked at all.it used to be early on   in the life of design blogs that a "thank you" was good manners. It still is. but try sending "thank yous" when you get    50 comments 3 and 4 times a week. it wears you down and is impossible to keep up with it. then still, sometimes it       doesn't even mean anything, so why bother? as is exactly what happened here with Jaithen (he's the one who reads the   google alerts and sends out the thank yous.)I try to comment some, feel guilty for every comment that goes unthanked and the energy wasted on the guilt and worry is too much. uggggh. any suggestions??????                                           

to which I replied:

___(blank) sounds plausible-and that makes it pretty crazy. Oddly enough-the comment I left was on Notting Hill's post-I didn't mention his name-just the comment. And do they follow you home to your own little augury perch too? gracious!I didn't think they could possibly be reading all the comments when their images are wallpapered across the design blogs with this room image.It would be exhausting. Either way- Does that make it better or worse? Comments that are fillers? Too much, it just lacks sincerity, No? It might have been wise to remove those alerts for a week or two.It seems like the entire competition is just a popularity contest really, doesn't it? Especially when implying the way the voting is set up is somewhat advantageous to Apartment Therapy-(another robo message maybe)which I don't get at all. ___(blank) YOU are great because you tell it -like it is- and I respect that, hope you do the same. Thanks for the comment xo(and I mean that!)

 ( and yes I have deleted ALL the comments on the ORIGINAL POST in the SPIRIT of -Well, Not wanting to alienate My dear Readers, those that DO leave their NAMES and ANON. too! It's my blog and I will EDIT if I want to-
Oh!

& I get to be Alice too.

(all photographs are by the fabulous Annie Leibovitz and were published in VOGUE 2009)
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